Hipster Douche "I'm A Republican" Ads

Happy to say I've missed this GOP ad campaign targeting young people.  If you're a young person and you find this hipster douchebag "Scott G." persuasive, then I fear for our future.

Here are four short videos.  The first and the third are the actual "I'm a Republican" ads.  Number two and number four are parodies by John Oliver and Josh Gondelman.  The parodies win!

Video #1


What specific legislation is he talking about which "makes it impossible to hire anyone"?

Video #2


Video #3


The first one I know to utter the phrase "all of the above" was Barack Obama.

Video #4

I Dare You To EXPAND Voting Access -- Uniformly, Of course

Voter Suppression Song:  New Lyrics, Same Shitty Tune

Around the country, wherever they can, R's are pushing new laws that make registering to vote and exercising the right to vote more difficult -- from ID requirements to restrictions on voting days, hours and locations to reducing absentee ballot availability.

Anyone with half a brain understands this is de facto voter suppression, modern-day Jim Crow without the poll tax and the literacy test.  Having read the demographic tea leaves, the R's have been hot to trot for this sort of stuff for the past few years.  At first, they floated the trial ballonn of "voter fraud".  But voter fraud is virtually non-existent, as has been shown repeatedly, even by Republicans.

So now the new spin is "uniformity and fairness".   Ah yes!  What could be wrong with those things?  Nothing, really, except the R's version of these concepts uniformly restricts voting access and makes it harder to comply for some seniors, young people, working poor and minorities, which is patently unfair (and precisely the intention).

Hey GOP!  If you're really so committed to uniformity, if that's what 's fair, if that's what you really want so much, then I challenge you fucks to EXPAND voting access -- uniformly, of course.

What?  No can do?  Why not?  Oh, I see.  Sure.

Another day, another dollop of sugar-coated crap for the low-info masses.

Conservative cheats and liars are working the states-rights angle like crazy to carve this rip-off into legislative stone, while they give us the finger and dare us stop them.

To do the right thing, we're going to need a new, modern-day federal Voting Rights Act to counteract these forces of regression.

His Own Private Primary

"Kiss my ring, sonny!"

Sheldon Adelson is a Las Vegas casino tycoon and a major GOP donor worth $37 billion.  He is hosting an event this weekend.   Sycophantic Republican presidential hopefuls will go to Vegas to pay homage to him and, more importantly, his money.  Among those bowing, scraping, and groveling at Adelson's feet will be Scott Walker, Chris Christie, Jeb Bush, and Ohio's own John Boy The Wonder Guv Kasich.

Money has always been a part of politics and always will be.   But in case you haven't been watching, the formula has been changing over the past few years.  The corruption, the perversion, of the democratic process now comes not from money itself but from the really BIG money, the off-the-charts money.  We're at the point where just a handful of people with self-serving personal agendas exert ridiculously out-sized influence over politics, public affairs and society as a whole.

Sheldon Adelson spent $100 million in the last presidential election cycle.  He's vowed to do more in 2016.  He desperately wants to be a king-maker.

Charles and David Koch spent $400 million last time, most via their nefarious network of 501-C-3's, like Americans For Prosperity.  They're ready to step it up, too.

So far in the current 2014 mid-term elections cycle, Americans for Prosperity has run 17,000 TV ads across the country.  Actual Republican Party groups have run 2,100.

In the 2012 presidential race, both candidates combined took in almost $2 billion in campaign contributions.  President Obama took in slightly more than Mitt Romney, but it was fairly evenly split.  The average donation to Obama was under $100.  The average Romney donation was over $1000.

We're closer to genuine American oligarchy than we've ever been.  We're making the "Gilded Age" look like a bunch of five-and-dime pikers.  Only an organized, large-scale, grass-roots political movement can stop it.  Sooner or later, it'll happen.  It always does.

Mr. & Mrs. Adelson.
You'd think $37 billion could
buy a couple decent haircuts,
but apparently not.

Shocker Alert! -- My Attorney Has Found Me Innocent

Surprise, surprise!  N.J. Gov. Chris Christie's long-time personal law firm was appointed by Gov. Christie to conduct a taxpayer-funded investigation into Gov. Christie's role in the George Washington Bridge lane closure debacle last fall.  The investigation has concluded that -- hold onto your socks -- Gov. Christie had nothing to do with it.  It was just a couple of unaccountable rogues on the governor's staff, but His Heftiness was not involved at all and did nothing wrong.  Yeah, that's it!

Is anyone ever fooled by this sort skeevy shit?

Bill Clinton's lawyer checked out the Monica Lewinsky allegations and corroborated Bill's claim that he "did not have sex with that woman."

Richard Nixon's lawyer investigated the Watergate affair and found that Tricky Dick had no recollection of any of it.

Well Said, Mr. Maher

Bad Spelling Is Our Constipational Right

WTF???

Hobby Lobby Can Stuff It!

Lemieux

"Hobby Lobby is not legally required to compensate its employees with health insurance at all."  [i.e. they could pay a penalty instead.]  "The regulations imposed by the ACA are on insurance plans, not on the corporations per se.  What is erroneously described as a 'mandate' simply means that if corporations choose to take advantage of the tax benefits for compensating employees in health insurance rather than wages, the insurance has to meet minimum coverage standards.  As is often the case with specious religious freedom arguments, the corporation wants it both ways -- to get the tax benefits without providing the the full benefits to employees." -- Scott Lemieux, Poli-Sci Professor, College of Saint Rose, Albany, NY